Historic Athens
No Greek holiday can ever be complete without their attendants paying respect to the historic districts of Athens. Grecian Athens is the cradle of Western civilization much as ancient Sumeria is the origin of human culture and language; without Greece, and specifically Athens, we would have none of our philosophy, our politics; no democracy, no parliament, no scientific method. Greece holidays are remiss without at least a brief visit to the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, or any of the museums.
The Acropolis in particular, with its majestic Parthenon, is surely the anchor of it all. The Acropolis is a last stab across eons of the ancient Grecians into the modern world; the ruins of their civilization stand proudly and unimpeachably atop it, visible for miles around, bleached by the sun but no less steady, no less solid. A visit to Athens will be historic by rite of its visibility, but proper respect should be paid with a visit to the monument. It is a testament to human accomplishment, a sign of both what has passed and what will come in the future. While there are many acropolises in the world, the Acropolis of Athens is the quintessential ‘Acropolis’, often simply called by this name without qualification or denotation that it is located in Athens at all. It is, simply, ‘The Acropolis’, foundation of the Parthenon, testament to human achievement throughout history.
Athens is yet modernized, however, despite the perseverance of its archaic rudiments; metro transportation is available on the cheap, and there are tourist facilities placed, of course, for all that desire to pass through. The various museums of Athens, as well as its hotels and restaurants are designed to accommodate those coming through to visit historic sites, and the language barrier is quite thin. While modernization has done nothing to cheapen the historic sites of Athens, Greece, it has made them infinitely more accessible to any visiting the city.
Historic Athens is a necessary visit for anyone considering holidays in Greece, with no excuses made for those that fear boredom or that they won’t properly relax if they spend a moment to think on history. There is no way to justify not paying the history of Athens a proper bit of attention on the way through, if not devoting an entire day or an entire trip just to the majesty of Western civilization’s birth and rise. Athens stands and will remain a bulwark of historic humanity.
Tagged With Athens, europe historical sites, greece, parthenon, travel tips